When many years ago my one-year-old son was diagnosed with severe food allergies, I was shocked, and I wanted to cry. I felt that I would not be able to cook him a single meal! He could not have milk, eggs, potatoes, bananas, apples and many other things. I spent hours shopping and reading all the ingredients of the things I was buying, and I felt overwhelmed with all the information I had to digest. Over time, things improved and I started to discover that many products are not good anyway and that it is possible to cook good quality food without white flour or eggs and still enjoy the meal.
As I also started practising yoga, I noticed more and more which food gives me good energy and that I have fewer digestion problems when we have home-made food. With such overflow of food available around us, we may forget to pay attention to what we eat and how we feel afterwards. I know that what we cook and what we eat matters, which also helps to create healthy habits for our children. After a couple of years and following several consultations with gastroenterologist and homeopathic doctors, my son’s health slowly improved and he could start eating more things. However, we have changed our ways of cooking forever. My son never went to the school canteen, and we have been cooking and preparing fresh meals for him every day since then. I have found that Thermos jars[1] (with a little spoon attached) are really perfect to keep the food warm for several hours and we can use it when travelling as well. We also use food boxes from Greenjump[2] website that are great for creating colourful lunch with fresh vegetables, fruit and tortilla wraps. Such boxes are convenient because you often don’t need to heat up anything, and the food is already portioned. Main meals can include wholesome salads, wraps, couscous or sushi, and you can add fruit and vegetables.
Photo by Suresh Designer on Unsplash
Eating and cooking for my oldest son has not been easy, but we realised that letting our children help to cook and prepare the meal with us paves the way to calm dinner and avoids regular battles over the meal. My youngest son who is 9 years old loves to cut vegetables and then he enjoys the salad he helped to prepare. I think that all children love to help when they are young and it may give them a good basis for later, so they have also basic cooking skills for adult life and cooking together is also fun!
Healthy eating also means that we should eat when we are really hungry. Have you ever heard of eating mindfully? Do you eat while reading something on your phone? Not really noticing the taste and smell of your meal? Mindful eating in a broader sense means to be really present at the dining table and to use all our senses to taste and smell and see and (touch) the colourful food we have prepared. We may also become better aware of our body’s needs, leading to improved well-being and satisfaction. Mindful eating supports making healthier food choices and developing habits that benefit both physical and mental health. We should also pay attention to how children sleep and move and spend time outdoors, so that they have a healthy appetite.
Avoiding sweets and unhealthy snacks between meals also helps to feel hungry. Children need to develop the proper hunger cues that tell their bodies when they need to eat and when they are full and satisfied, which is difficult if they can eat all the time. Moreover, the effect of sugar on children would be a topic for another article. I personally try to limit the number of sweet things my children can have in a day or in a week. I put away all the sweets they receive at the birthday parties, and we never buy lollipops or candies. The “advantage” of my son’s allergies was that we stopped buying biscuits, chocolate and many other things and he did not learn to eat them, so there was less discussion around it. We also do not drink coke or any other sweet drinks. You probably know that there is 35 g in a 330 ml coke can and that 35 g of sugar amounts to about 7 teaspoons of sugar. On top of that, coke contains caffeine, so it may have an impact on the quality of their sleep too. If your children like such drinks, try slowly swapping out sugary drinks with water or herbal tea. Soft drinks also make children to feel less hungry to eat their meal, so giving them water instead supports their appetite. If you can, avoid keeping sweet drinks in the house and try not to drink them yourself. You can make fresh juice from fruit or smoothies instead and it is an easy breakfast if you put a little bit of granola on top.
My favourite author, Ella Mills, founder of Deliciously Ella[3], in her book “Healthy made simple” offers 75 brand new recipes devoted to making healthy eating easier. She shares vibrant, colourful, speedy, plant-based recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner that will take less than 30 minutes to make. My children love her chia pudding for breakfast, and you will find many of her recipes on her website. She has also a cookbook with recipes of smoothies and juices. [4]
My golden rule when I cook is to know all the ingredients and that less is more. Having good quality kitchen equipment helps as well. I really love my WMF pressure cooker[5], that helps you to cook vegetables or potatoes on steam within a few minutes and it tastes delicious. It is also great for baby food, you just put vegetables and water in the pot, boil it and you have a fresh meal ready within five minutes. You just have to mix it with a good stick blender! If you can, cook and bake the ingredients for the meals you prepare and prepare fried food only exceptionally.
Our favourite meal, especially when we travel, is a vegetable soup. I find it perfect as a main dish or snack for kids and it is easy, quick, and tasty way to add more nutrients to your diet. Soups made with bone-, vegetable-, or meat-based broths providing vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, such as collagen. As my oldest son refused to eat fresh vegetables for a long time, eating soup was an easy and tasty way to increase his vegetable intake as well. Eating soup also helps to keep your body hydrated which is great during the hot summer months.
Here is our favourite recipe for carrot soup and you don’t need much time to prepare it.
Photo by Jade Aucamp on Unsplash
You will need:
- 3 to 4 organic carrots
- 1 potato
- 1 vegetable broth
- 500 ml of water, depending on the way you cook it
Peel your carrots and potato, cut into pieces and put them together with the vegetable broth in the pressure cooker with water, boil it for 5 minutes and then mix it all together adding some fresh herbs! Enjoy with home-made bread or French baguette. The variations of vegetable soups are endless, such as using leek, zucchini or spinach.
Healthy cooking is also about slowing down, giving children enough time to eat mindfully and respecting a certain rhythm, which children need. Having a meal all together at one table, doing the real work together (such as cooking, cleaning the table, tidying up) can make a difference. Helle Heckmann, founder of famous Waldorf kindergarten Nøkken in Denmark, says: “Since forming Nøkken, I have worked intensively with children. I am reminded daily of how essential it is for children to have enough of the simple, core needs of rhythm, sleep, freedom to move and good nutrition. It is essential for a child to get nutrition with enough fuel so s/he has energy for the physical and social challenges they will meet all day long.” A nice way of encouraging children to choose fruit and vegetables or legumes at every meal and for snacks, is to cut them in various shapes or create pictures on the plate.[6]
If we teach our children healthy habits including healthy cooking, they will make better choices when they are grown-ups. Cooking together can offer an opportunity to reconnect with your children and your partner as well. Finally, cooking at home gives you control over the ingredients so you know exactly what you’re eating. Preparing homemade food means also adjusting the amount of food to your needs avoiding unnecessary waste of food.
[1] https://thermos.com/collections/food-jars)
[2] https://www.greenjump.nl/Categorie/Eten-en-Drinken/Broodtrommel-RVS/Bentobox-met-vakjes
[3] https://www.deliciouslyella.com/en-eu/
[4] https://www.deliciouslyella.com/products/smoothies-and-juices-cookbook/
[5] https://www.wmf.com/de/en/products/pots-pans/pressure-cookers.html
[6] https://www.momtastic.com/recipes/snacks-appetizers/401465-diy-fruit-and-vegetable-shapes/
By Veronika Hulka from www.yogawithveronika.com
This article was first published in the 2024 winter edition of the BCT’s Small Talk magazine.
